Overkill

[Flosshilde]

But for those who don't get Bowie, were untouched by any aspect of his life or work - I wouldn't worry about it!

I wouldn't, if it wasn't inescapable.

(& I have bought a couple of his records in the past, & quite liked them)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I wouldn't, if it wasn't inescapable.

That's just it. Suddenly, because he has died, the media has gone wild, and BBC TV Breakfast this morning was no exception with its hero-worshipping adulation and simpering.

Last week no-one was interested in him.

[Anna]

Last week no-one was interested in him.

Just because someone isn't in the news it doesn't mean they've been forgotten and no-one is playing the music any more. :

Music for me is about sound, about the unity of emotion and intelligence, about form, about pushing envelopes, about indelible experiences, about astonishment, about discovering unsuspected beauties of shared humanity through originality, and many other things but those will do for now. In all of these areas David Bowie's music is a pinnacle as far as I'm concerned, and it has been for more than forty years, and no doubt it always will be.

Last autumn, for some reason, after my interest in his work had been rekindling for a year or two, I felt impelled to listen through his entire recorded output, and it seemed to me that very few bodies of artistic work are on a comparable level of achievement. There are maybe three albums out of almost thirty that contain nothing I would want to revisit, and others I know every corner of and will never get to the bottom of however many times I might explore them.

[EdgeleyRob]

That's just it. Suddenly, because he has died, the media has gone wild, and BBC TV Breakfast this morning was no exception with its hero-worshipping adulation and simpering.

Last week no-one was interested in him.

I was and have been most weeks for the past 40 odd years.

[french frank]

The media circus writes - and having writ
Moves on …

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I was and have been most weeks for the past 40 odd years.

I was referring to the deafening silence from the media.

[Beef Oven!]

Last week no-one was interested in him.

There'd been rumours of his ill-health and he had been quietly getting on with what would be his last album. I really don't understand what has got your goat about all this.

[EdgeleyRob]

I was referring to the deafening silence from the media.

I know,I was trying to be clever,funny or something

And every time I thought I'd got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet

[Serial_Apologist]

This article got me thinking;.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/13/david-bowie-life-on-mars-radical-singularity-fantasy

And that’s my Bowie problem. His work was the fantasy of life without constraint, without the restrictions of (moral) gravity and directed exclusively by the lone star of choice. This philosophy can only work in the realm of fiction and fantasy. Back on planet Earth, the unencumbered life turns out to be more of a curse than a blessing.

This is a genuine question as I am very much puzzled.

In the days of the Golden Age of Hollywood, many ‘stars’ created characters that broke conventions and / or being a new type of individual. Humphrey Bogart was a good example. Young and not so young men dreamed of being Cool and Tough like Bogart / Philip Marlowe but they all knew it was a daydream and not something that had any relevance to how they would live their lives.

Bowie, on the other hand, seemed to have been seen as a kind of role model who showed a new way to live.

What’s the difference between Bogart and Bowie? Or what has changed in our culture to perceive a star (I don’t like the word celebrity) as something relevant to real life?

I think you've hit on something important but overlooked in this discussion, DS. A number of archetypes were brought together to form the changeling Bowie persona and sit uneasily together, and I attempted to approach this problematic from a parallel perspective to Giles Fraser in my last message, but one which situates the Bowie problematic ontologically and socially rather than morally.

[Beef Oven!]

I think you've hit on something important but overlooked in this discussion, DS. A number of archetypes were brought together to form the changeling Bowie persona and sit uneasily together, and I attempted to approach this problematic from a parallel perspective to Giles Fraser in my last message, but one which sees the Bowie problematic ontologically rather than morally.

Changeling? You mean the real Bowie is out there somewhere as a retired accountant!!?

[Serial_Apologist]

Changeling? You mean the real Bowie is out there somewhere as a retired accountant!!?

Yes I'm not now sure changeling is quite the word I should have used.

[Serial_Apologist]

SImple Minds.

...well, trying in my case to find the words to express what I want to say when my brain is on its last legs!

I think I'll come back when I'm refreshed by a good night's sleep and have another go.

[teamsaint]

...well, trying in my case to find the words to express what I want to say when my brain is on its last legs!

I think I'll come back when I'm refreshed by a good night's sleep and have another go.

Sorry, should have deleted this.
An attempted reference to a Simple Minds record, " changeling".

Epic fail on my part.
Have a good nights kip, S-A !!

[Serial_Apologist]

Night all!

[Beef Oven!]

Sorry, should have deleted this.
An attempted reference to a Simple Minds record, " changeling".

Epic fail on my part.
Have a good nights kip, S-A !!

I think S_A doesn't realise that it's a song by Simple Minds, and thinks you were insulting us both!